Taylor, Zachary

Life Span
to
    Full name
    Zachary Taylor
    Place of Birth
    Birth Date Certainty
    Exact
    Death Date Certainty
    Exact
    Gender
    Male
    Race
    White
    Origins
    Slave State
    No. of Spouses
    1
    No. of Children
    6
    Family
    Richard Taylor (father), Sarah Strother (mother), Margaret Mackall Smith (wife, 1810), Richard Taylor (son)
    Occupation
    Politician
    Military
    Farmer or Planter
    Relation to Slavery
    Slaveholder
    Church or Religious Denomination
    Episcopalian
    Political Parties
    Whig
    Government
    President
    Taylor Administration (1849-50)
    Military
    US military (Pre-Civil War)

    Zachary Taylor (American National Biography)

    Scholarship
    As president, Taylor put national above sectional interests, usually made wise decisions, and always acted decisively. Because he tried to understand and deal fairly with both sections, he has often been described quite inaccurately as pronorthern. If Taylor had lived, he would probably have been reelected, and the course of American history might have been different. He has been a much underrated man and president.
    Elbert B. Smith, "Taylor, Zachary," American National Biography Online, February 2000, http://www.anb.org/articles/04/04-00978.html.

    Zachary Taylor, Election of 1848 (American National Biography)

    Scholarship
    In December 1847 a group of Whig congressmen, including both Abraham Lincoln and Alexander H. Stephens, organized a "Taylor for President Club" and ignited a national movement.

    Besieged with questions, Taylor wrote revealing letters. He disliked political parties, he would spend no money, and he would become president only as a result of a "spontaneous move of the people." Slavery, he wrote, had been abolished in Mexico and could not be revived in the newly acquired territories. He owned many slaves, but he would respect the feelings and legal rights of the nonslaveholding states. The "intemperate zeal" of northern fanatics and southern politicians was making reasonable discussions impossible. The unnecessary and dangerous Wilmot Proviso against slavery in the new territories would shake the country. He still hoped, however, that compromises could be reached. Congress was responsible for legislation, and a president should veto laws only if they were clearly unconstitutional.
    Elbert B. Smith, "Taylor, Zachary," American National Biography Online, February 2000, http://www.anb.org/articles/04/04-00978.html.
    Chicago Style Entry Link
    Bauer, K. Jack. Zachary Taylor: Soldier, Planter, Statesman of the Old Southwest. Southern Biography Series. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1985. view record
    Castel, Albert. "Old Rough and Ready's Battle at Buena Vista." American History Illustrated 17, no. 6 (1982): 20-29. view record
    Castel, Albert. "Zachary Taylor." American History Illustrated 5, no. 3 (1970): 4-11, 43-48. view record
    Graebner, Norman A. "1848: Southern Politics at the Crossroads." Historian 25, no. 1 (1963): 14-35. view record
    Howard, Oliver Otis. General Taylor. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1892. view record
    Jackson, Jack. "General Taylor's ‘Astonishing’ Map of Northeastern Mexico." Southwestern Historical Quarterly 101, no. 2 (1997): 142-173. view record
    Lynch, William O. "Zachary Taylor as President." Journal of Southern History 4, no. 3 (1938): 279-294. view record
    Montgomery, Henry. The Life of Major General Zachary Taylor. Buffalo, NY: Derby & Hewson Publishers, 1847. view record
    Nichols, Edward J. Zach Taylor's Little Army. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1963. view record
    Stegmaier, Mark J. “Zachary Taylor Versus The South.” Civil War History 33, no. 3 (1987): 219-241. view record
    Steins, Richard. Taylor, Fillmore, Pierce, and Buchanan. Vero Beach, FL: Rourke Corp., 1997.  view record
    Stoddard, William Osborn. The Lives of the Presidents: Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan. New York: F. A. Stokes & Brother, 1888. view record
    Thonhoff, Robert H. "Taylor's Trail in Texas." Southwestern Historical Quarterly 70, no. 1 (1966): 7-22. view record
    Viola, Herman J. "Zachary Taylor and the Indiana Volunteers." Southwestern Historical Quarterly 72, no. 3 (1969): 335-346. view record
    Wise, W. Harvey, and John W. Cronin. A Bibliography of Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan. Washington, DC: Riverford Pub. Co, 1935. view record
    How to Cite This Page: "Taylor, Zachary," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/index.php/node/12341.